POLITICS OF ALABAMA 



BY 



^n J. C. MANNING 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 



^ 5"^? i ^ 



Copyright, 1893, 
By J. C. Manning. 



All Rights Reserved. 






\ 



DEDICATION. 



To the patriotic people of Alabama who demand " a free ballot 
and a fair count," and believe in honest government, this little 
book is fraternally dedicated by the author. 



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V. 



7 • 

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3 -v 7 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
The Famous Kolb-Jones Gubernatorial Contest. 

CHAPTER II. 
The Democratic Party one of Prejudice. 

CHAPTER III. 
Different Kinds of " Party Lash " Crackers. 

, CHAPTER IV. 
The Trouble of the Sixties. 

CHAPTER V. 
Want Produces Thinkers. 

CHAPTER VI. 
"Bourbon" Campaign Intolerance. 

CHAPTER VH. 
Election Methods of the Democrats. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Success of the Populists Assured. 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FAMOUS KOLB-JONES GUBERNATORIAL CONTEST. 

Until i^ecently, embracing the past several months, almost national 
attention has been centered upon the politics of Alabama. 

Notice was first attracted by the famous Kolb-Jones gubernatorial 
contest. This campaign was something novel in the South, for 
until then, there had not been, for years, any probability of defeat 
to the organized Democracy in Alabama. 

However, during the Kolb-Jones political fight, astute "organized" 
Democratic leaders soon expressed such grave apprehensions of the 
success of their ticket that, only a few weeks before the time had 
come for the state election (Aug. i, 1S93), Alabama was in the 
throes of such political excitement as had probably never before been 
known in the history of that commonwealth. This fervor increased 
up to the day of election, when, as is known to the entire country, 
Capt. R. F. Kolb swept the state with cyclonic victory, notwith- 
standing the fact that he was defrauded by the manipulations of the 
ballot-box stuffers, unscrupulous returning-officers and unprincipled 
members of canvassing-boards. Another man is to-day occupying 
the seat to which Captain Kolb is entitled, with the absolute ac- 
quaintance of the certainty of this statement, and with the perfect 
knowledge that a vast majority of the people of Alabama are fully 
aware that, inasmuch as he has assumed it wrongfully, he is un- 
worthy of the trust. What a shameful and revolting spectacle ! 



O POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

President Hayes was never more despised by the people of Ala- 
bama, than is Governor Jones by the common people of his own state. 

No better or more interesting recital could be given of the rightful 
claims of Captain Kolb, than is made in his open letter, written De- 
cember 15, 1892, and addressed to the General Assembly and people 
of Alabama. In this letter Captain Kolb makes a demand for justice, 
gives well-known facts that are susceptible of proof, makes state- 
ments of particular frauds, and asks why an investigation of the 
matter is not permitted and the people allowed to choose their own 
public servants. The letter is as follows : 

" To THE Members of the General Assembly of Alabama, and the 
People of Alabama : 
" As I have so far been denied the official rights conferred upon me by a 
sovereign people, I deem it my duty to address this open letter to the mem- 
bers of the Legislature and people of Alabama, and respectfully ask for an 
impartial hearing. 'Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.' On the 
ist of December, 1892, a conscienceless and corrupt oligarchy overturned 
the republican form of government in Alabama, and installed as the de facto 
governor, a man who was not elected to the office. I feel that I am airing 
no mere private or personal grievance in thus protesting against and denoun- 
cing this great crime against law, order and civil liberty. I would be an 
unfaithful steward and unworthy of the sacred trust confided to me by the 
people of Alabama at the polls in August last, if I remained silent under the 
circumstances. Two years ago the Democratic party, in convention assem- 
bled, refused to nominate for governor the acknowledged choice of a 
majority of the party. For the sake of harmony, I bided my time for 
another two years, believing that the people would then rise in their majesty 
and throw off the tyrannous yoke of party bosses. On the 8th of June last, 
the Democratic party again assembled in state convention, to nominate can- 
didates for governor and other state officers, and for a second time, the 
rights and wishes of the people were over-ridden by fraud and the unfair use 
of party machinery in the election of delegates thereto. My friends did every- 
thing in their power to bring about a fair and honorable settlement of all 
differences existing between the two factions of the Democratic party in the 
state. All overtures in tliis direction were treated with scorn and derision 
by the so-called ' organized ' Democracy, and we were forced to organize 
our own state convention, which was composed exclusively of life-long 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 9 

Democrats. This convention nominated a full state ticket and appealed 
to the justice-loving- hearts of the true, sovereign people of Alabama, for 
their verdict on the first Monday in August. The issues between the two 
factions of the party were fully presented by both sides of the controversy, 
in the most memorable campaign ever known in the political history of the 
state. On the first Monday in August, the people spoke at the ballot-box 
in thunder tones and declared that the ticket headed by myself for governor, 's^ 
received a majority of over 45,000 of the votes cast, fully 25,000 of that 
majority being white voters. By frauds and manipulations on the part of 
election managers and county returning-boards in many counties of the 
state, this true majority of 45,000 for myself for governor, was changed into 
a fictitious majority of about 11,000 for Thomas G. Jones. This state of/ 
facts was admitted to be true for weeks after the election by prominent 
supporters of Governor Jones throughout the state, who did not hesitate to 
say that the Legislature, when it convened, would provide for a prompt and 
impartial investigation of the frauds alleged to have been committed, and 
would declare who was rightfully entitled to the office of governor. Gov- 
ernor Jones himself is on record as having used the following language on 
the subject, in an interview with Mr. Chappel Cory, editor of the Birming- 
ham Age-Herald, on August 21, 1892 : 

'"If I am not fairly elected I do not want the office. I intend to renew 
my recommendation, made in February, 1891, to the ensuing General 
Assembly, to pass laws to provide for contests before the General Assembly, 
for governor and the other state offices. There can be no doubt that such 
a law will be passed. You may say further that if the limited session 
allowed by the constitution will not give sufficient time to hear and decide 
such contests as may be brought, that I will not hesitate to convene the 
General Assembly in extraordinary session for the purpose. I have neither 
reason nor motive to use the power of the office of governor to hinder or 
embarrass investigation ; but, were it otherwise, consecration to this great 
trust would leave me no room for doubt as to the pathway of duty and 
honor, when the happiness and contentment of the people lay in the balance 
against partisan success or personal triumph. ' Commenting on this inter- 
view with Governor Jones, the Age-Herald said editorially : ' There is now 
no reason why every honest man should not adjourn the discussion of the 
gubernatorial issue until the meeting of the General Assembly. Certainly 
no honest-minded Democrat, however bitterly he may have fought for 
Captain Kolb, can find an excuse for keeping alive the fires of factional 
strife. The statement by Governor Jones, which we publish this morning, 
leaves nothing more to be said until the trial shall come up according to the 



lO POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

law and the constitution. No settlement of a contest is possible except by 
the General Assembly, and the Governor says in plain terms it shall be settled 
and rightly settled. He goes so far as to say that if the constitutional limit 
of fifty days shall not give time for the determination of all contests, he will 
convene the General Assembly in extraordinary session for that purpose.' 
Thus, it is plainly apparent, that Governor Jones and his friends are pledged 
to provide for and abide by a legislative investigation and adjudication of 
the contest. Can Governor Jones and his friends afford not to keep their 
pledges? Will Governor Jones follow 'the pathway of duty and honor,' or 
will he sacrifice both upon the altar of 'partisan success and personal 
triumph ? ' On the occasion of his inauguration as the de facto Governor of 
Alabama, December i, 1892, in making an urgent appeal to the Legislature 
to largely increase the present rate of taxation, Governor Jones declared 
that 'the Democratic party can dare to do right.' If he deemed it the duty 
of a Democratic legislature to increase the burdens of an already taxridden 
people, surely he can afford to recommend to this same Legislature the 
necessity of investigating alleged election frauds, which impugn the integrity 
of his title to the office of governor, and especially, when these frauds are 
not denied by his supporters or the press friendly to him. In other words, 
will Governor Jones 'dare to do right,' in this grave matter, affecting, as it 
does, the rights of the majority of the sovereign people of this commonwealth 
and the perpetuity of a republican form of government in Alabama. Will 
the Legislature, now assembled on Capitol Hill, knowing as they do, that all 
honest and fair-minded men among their constituents demand an investi- 
gation, 'dare to do right,' and enact a law which will insure that justice 
shall be done and a stigma removed, which will otherwise be a stain upon 
Alabama's fair escutcheon forever ? I believe the Legislature will rise above 
paltry partisan feeling, and that after becoming convinced of the wishes of 
their people during the Christmas recess, will return to the Capitol and 
effect a just and speedy settlement of this vital question. It has been 
charged that I have deserted the Democratic party. I repudiate the base 
calumny with the scorn of conscious innocence. The Democratic party has 
always been and always will be the party of the people, and the so-called 
'organized' Democratic party of Alabama has simply deserted and out- 
raged the people. I am now, as I have ever been, true and faithful to the 
principles of Jeffersonian Democracy. I believe in and shall ever contend 
for ' a government of the people, for the people and by the people.' There 
are men high in the counffils of the so-called 'organized' Democracy, who 
while admitting my election, declare that because I supported the electoral 
ticket nominated by the Lakeview convention, I should be denied even an 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. II 

opportunity to contest before the Legislature for the office to which I have 
been elected; and some go so far as to say that, had I not given such 
support, I would have been legally seated in the gubernatorial chair of 
Alabama, on the ist of December, 1892. No sensible, or honest person 
will contend that my support of the Lakeview electoral ticket can affect the 
merits of my cause of contest or change the facts of the previous August 
election. For that support, I have no apologies to make ; for I followed the 
dictates of right and conscience. And besides, I could not consistently 
support the electoral ticket nominated by the convention of party bosses at 
the State-house, because such support would have been on my part an 
indirect indorsement of the frauds which I honestly believe were committed 
against me by these same party bosses and their henchmen, in the August 
election. P"or taking the position I did, it is proclaimed by my enemies that 
I am 'politically dead in Alabama.' In reply to this, I would say that, 
when they undertake to lay me away in my political coffin, they will find 
that no amount of abuse and vilification will prevent my speedy and 
triumphant resurrection through the sovereign might of an outraged people. 
The political bosses are hereby notified that in the future, as in the past, I 
will ever be found battling for true Jeffersonian Democracy and the rights of 
the masses. In the meantime, thanks to a merciful Providence, being in 
fine health and feeling confident of the continued sympathy and support of 
my fellow citizens, I propose to fight now and fight ever until the banner of 
right and reform is planted on the dismantled fortress of fraud and usurpa- 
tion. 

" For the information of the members of the General Assembly, I desire to 
give some of the facts in detail, showing the truth of the charge that the state 
ticket headed by myself for governor was fraudulently counted out, in August 
last. My information in regard to these frauds is of the most authentic 
character, and I will be able to sustain, by convincing proof, every charge 
alleged. These election frauds, to which I call attention, will be startling 
intelligence to the people in the ' white ' counties of the state, who at present 
have no adequate conception of their extent and enormity. Let us first 
examine Governor Jones' own home county of Montgomery. Every well- 
informed person in Montgomery county knows and admits that the majority 
of 6,250 returned for Governor Jones, was a sham and a fraud. The same 
old methods were resorted to, that have been practised for years. The 
boast, openly made before the election, that our ticket would be 'counted 
out,' was carried out to the letter. It is a known fact and publicly stated, 
that not over 4,000 votes, all told, were actually cast in the August election 
in Montgomery county, and that an honest count of this vote would give me 



12 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

not less than 1,500 majority. The return of 3,561 votes, claimed to have 
been cast in the two beats of the city of Montgomery, every honest citizen 
knows to be untrue. I charge that there were not 1,000 votes actually cast 
in the two city beats, and all over that number counted were uncast ballots. 
The same is true as to the returns from nearly, if not all, the ' black ' beats of 
the county. Tickets for the Jones faction were substituted for those cast 
for the Kolb faction, and a large number of uncast ballots were counted for 
Governor Jones and his faction that were never voted at all. Uncast 
ballots were placed in the ballot-boxes and counted for Governor Jones 
purporting to have been cast by men, both white and colored, long since 
dead, and others by men who have not lived in the county for years. The 
poll lists on file in the ofifice of the judge of probate, were either destroyed 
or stolen, to prevent copies being furnished, which would show these facts 
to exist. The vote of Montgomery county alone, honestly counted and 
returned as the votes were cast, would show a difference in my favor of not 
less than 7,700 votes. In other words, I carried the county by about 1,500 
majority, instead of Governor Jones by over 6,200 as the fraudulent returns 
show. The same state of facts exists as to Lowndes county — over 1,600 
majority was returned for Governor Jones when, in fact, I carried the 
county by over 2,000 majority. In many of the 'black' beats hundreds of 
ballots cast for the Kolb faction were changed for those of the Jones faction, 
and hundreds more of uncast ballots placed in the ballot-boxes and counted 
for Governor Jones, that were never voted at all by anyone. The names of 
hundreds of dead men appear on the poll lists and ballots put in for them 
and counted for Governor Jones. When a copy of the poll lists was 
demanded of the judge of probate, which I charge would show these facts 
to exist, we were informed that said copy would be furnished the next day ; 
but lo, and behold! when next day came, we were told that the poll lists 
had been stolen the night before. I charge that the vote of Lowndes, honestly 
counted as cast, would give me over 2,000 majority, instead of over 1,600 
majority for Governor Jones, as returned, which would make a difference in 
my favor of over 3,600 votes. The same facts exist as to Wilcox county. 
I charge that not over 3,000 votes were actually cast in this county in the 
August election, and if honestly counted I would have received a majority 
of not less than 500. Yet by fraud and ballot-box stuffing and holding back 
the returns for over a week after the election, a majority of over 4,300 was 
given to Governor Jones. An honest count in this county would show 4,500 
votes in my favor. But it was reserved to Dallas county to outdo all others, 
in the way of ballot-box stuffing and fraudulent returns, by which a majority 
of over 6,100 was figured out for Governor Jones. An honest count of the 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. I3 

vote as actually cast would give me over 3,000 majority, making a difference 
of over 9,000 votes in my favor, from this county alone. In Selma beat the 
returns show that 2,642 votes were cast, and a majority of over 2,300 returned 
for Governor Jones. The facts are, that not exceeding 1,400 votes were 
actually cast in Selma beat, and fully 600 of those cast were for the Kolb 
ticket. The census gave Selma beat a population of only 7,600, all told, 
and yet, they return 2,642 of this population as having voted. One voter 
out of five is above the average of most populations, but Selma has found 
a way to manufacture nearly three voters out of every five of her people. 
In some of the 'black' beats of the county, only thirty to forty votes were 
actually cast, by both white and colored voters, and yet the returns give 
from 400 to 700 majority from these beats, to Governor Jones. I charge 
that not as many votes were cast in the county of Dallas for both Jones and 
Kolb as the majority claimed for Governor Jones. The truth is, that Gov- 
ernor Jones did not actually receive over 1,300 votes, all told, in the county, 
and yet he is fraudulently given over 6,100 majority. In Perry county the 
same frauds and ballot-box stuffing were resorted to, and hundreds of dead 
men made to vote for Thomas Goode Jones. With an honest count of the 
vote of Perry as actually cast, I would have received a majority of over 500 
votes, instead of a majority of over 1,800 for Governor Jones, as returned, 
which would make a difference of over 2,300 votes in my favor. In Hale 
county, all will remember, that the first report received from that county 
after the election, gave me the county by over 1,600 majority, but the politi- 
cal bosses here urged them to hold back the returns and ' doctor ' them ; that 
the 'organized' ticket was in great danger and the 'black belt"' was expected 
to do her duty. Hale was equal to the emergency, and in a few days revised 
her returns and figured out over 1,200 majority for Governor Jones. I charge 
that the vote of Hale, if honestly counted, as actually cast, would give 
me a majority of over 2,500, which would be a difference of over 3,700 in my 
favor. The same irregularities occurred in Greene county, where a true 
majority of over 500 for me was changed into a fictitious majority of 500 for 
Governor Jones, showing a difference of over 1,000 in my favor. In Sump, 
ter county my majority was fully 500 more than was returned for me, and 
about the same in Pickens; and in Marengo county, an honest count of the 
vote as cast would have given me the county by a safe majority, instead of 
1,000 majority for Governor Jones as returned. 

In Macon county, by fraud and manipulations, a true majority of about 
2,000 for me was reduced to a little over 700. In Bullock county, by frauds, 
manipulations and partisan abuses by county returning-boards, a majority of 
over 1,800 was given Governor Jones when, in fact, if he was entitled to any 



H 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 



majority at all, it should have been less than 200. In Autauga county an 
honest count of the vote actually cast, would have given me the county by 
at least 500 majority, but by ballot-box stuffing and fraudulently counting- 
out votes cast for the Kolb ticket and substituting Jones tickets instead, a 
small majority was falsely returned for Governor Jones. In all these 'black 
belt' counties a majority of the judges of probate, sheriffs and clerks, whose 
duty it was to appoint the inspectors of elections, were friends of Governor 
Jones, and in most of the counties, the rights of the Kolb faction were 
utterly ignored, and no friend of mine permitted to act as manager or clerk 
at any of the beats. Only at a few ' white ' beats, in any of these counties, 
were we allowed any representation. My political enemies were not satisfied 
with this great wrong done me in the 'black belt ' counties but invaded some 
of the 'white' counties, and by fraud and manipulation in the beats, or by 
partisan action on the part of county returning-boards, on the Saturday 
following the election, robbed me of over 10,000 votes to which I was justly 
entitled. In Conecuh county I received a majority of 1,235 votes, and yet, 
by throwing out boxes and robbing others, this majority was all wiped out, 
and a false majority of 270 given to Governor Jones. In Pike county I 
received a majority of 910 votes and the returns from eleven beats, giving 
me large majorities, were thrown out or destroyed by the county returning- 
board, and a majority of 55 given to Governor Jones. The contests in both 
of these counties (Conecuh and Pike) have been virtually decided in my 
favor by Judge Hubbard, in his decision in the contest cases for judge of 
probate in each county. His opinion, as rendered, being in favor of Dr. 
R. A. Lee, of Conecuh, and T. H. Brown, of Pike, both of whom were candi- 
dates for probate judge on the Kolb ticket. In like manmer, as in Conecuh 
and Pike, I was robbed of over 1,000 votes in Butler, over 1,000 in Elrnore, 
over 600 in Coosa, over 700 in St. Clair, over 700 in Shelby, over 100 in 
Chilton, over 1,000 in Talladega, over 500 in Walker, over 1,000 in Morgan 
and over 1,000 in Madison. I have given plain and unvarnished facts, as I 
believe them to exist, and positively assert that a fair and impartial investi- 
gation will prove every statement made, to be true. It may be asked why 
the evidence is not here adduced to prove these allegations. If adduced 
here, these same parties would say that it was all ex parte and that it would 
be controverted and destroyed, if both sides should be heard. Besides, they 
know that the details necessary to be recounted as to each beat in so many 
counties, would make a summary too voluminous to be incorporated in an 
address. All I ask is that a full, fair and impartial investigation shall be 
had and that a true judgment may be rendered. If Governor Jones and 
his friends are not afraid of truth, equity and justice, why do they refuse.? 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. I5 

If the effect would only be to remove a cloud from his title to the office, 
would he not gladly embrace such an opportunity? 'But there's the rub.' 
They well know that an investigation would disclose frauds and manipula- 
tions which could not be defended, and would prove his claim to the office of 
governor wholly unfounded upon right. That is why they dare not permit 
an investigation. That is why some of them talk so glibly what they would 
not dare to utter over their own signatures. That is why the Legislature 
has treated this matter with silence, while patriotic representatives of the 
people have urged and insisted upon action, so that justice might be done, 
and right triumph. Every honest man knows that Governor Jones has no 
shadow of claim to the office of governor. The people, by their votes in 
August, relegated him to private life for the next two years, and yet he is 
sitting up at the Capitol upon a lot of stuffed ballot-boxes from the ' black 
belt,' and claiming his election. Some of his best friends have publicly 
declared that he could not afford to hold the office in the face of such 
fraudulent returns, and if he persisted in doing so, he would go down to 
posterity more despised than Rutherford B. Hayes. I am only contending 
for what is right. As a native-born citizen of Alabama, and one who has 
always endeavored to serve my people and state to the best of my ability, 
both in time of war and in time of peace, I feel that I have a right to 
demand that justice be done. Thousands of true men all over this great 
commonwealth honored me with their support in the August election, and 
in their name I demand of the Legislature, a prompt and impartial investiga- 
tion of this matter. These people represent a majority of the white voting 
population and demand a respectful hearing. I beg you, members of the 
Legislature, not to mistake the temper of these people. Remember that a 
large majority of them have been life-long Democrats. While they don't 
believe in, and never will submit to the domination of a few party bosses, 
yet they do believe in the time-honored principles of pure Jeffersonian 
Democracy. They have been the true, the tried and unflinching Democrats, 
who have heretofore fought the battles and won the victories of the party in 
Alabama. True to its noble cause, true to every great principle, and true to 
every demand of patriotism upon them, they have been in the fore-front of 
every contest when victory was won, and the firm and immovable, the true 
and faithful guardians of its cause, in every defeat we have ever sustained. 
Many of these people were gallant soldiers in the late war, and since 1865 
have been battling for the Democratic party in Alabama. Many of them 
have reared sons, in whose breasts they early planted the principles of true 
Democracy, and taught them that it was the party of the people. They 
believe that Democracy means that the people shall rule, and that white 



1 6 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

people should govern Alabama. They now feel that a few political bosses 
are undertaking to overthrow a republican form of government in this state. 
I warn you to stop and reflect. Don't trifle with these people longer. Let 
justice be done, and sweet Peace will again spread her white wings over our 
beloved state. 

R. F. KOLB." 
Montgomery, Ala., Dec. 15, 1S92. 

Nothing but silence answers this scathing arraignment of the 
Democratic party of Alabama. The burning charges of corruption 
and robbery meet no rebuttal; none could truthfully be made. 
Many weeks after the publication of Captain Kolb's letter, the 
Birmingham Age- Herald^ of Maixh3, 1893, contained a remark- 
able editorial confession, headed: "That Political Pest," — which 
may enable one to form some opinion of the sentiment of the aver- 
age Jones Democrat regarding the Kolb-Jones contest and "dis- 
pute" over the election. This quotation from the editorial will 
prove quite interesting : 

" Now the fact is that the Populists will fight the Democratic party in 1894 
on the issue of the last August election, and their cry will be so many varia- 
tions of the contest matter. The plain facts of this matter had as well be 
understood first as last. If Captain Kolb and the other gentlemen who ran 
on his ticket had supported Cleveland and held good their claims to being- 
Democrats, a contest law would have been enacted. Public sentiment would 
have compelled it, and the dispute over the election would have been legally 
settled, and in all probability Governor Jones would have been governor 
just as he is now. But when Captain Kolb and his fellow candidates on his 
state ticket, went bodily over to Mr. Harrison and conspired with Chris 
Magee, public sentiment revolted. From that moment all possibility of a 
contest law vanished. The organized Democracy would not hear to yield- 
ing an inch of ground, and all the influence of Governor Jones himself could 
not have availed to procure a contest law from the Legislature. That is a 
plain statement of fact. That is the shape it will assume in 1894. In the 
meanwhile, if we begin the campaign already, how are we going to have any 
rest?" 

As is easily apparent from reading the foregoing editorial, the 
principal excuse of the " machine bosses" as to why the ofiice of 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 1 7 

governor was stolen from Captain Kolb, is "because he did not 
support Cleveland ! " This silly twaddle about Captain Kolb 
going over to Harrison, is just such nonsensical stuff as the average 
of Alabama Democratic editors deem fit to feed the Democratic 
' ' gods and little fishes " on. What other available matter have they, 
when truth, right and reason have forever departed from their sanc- 
tums and from their cause ? 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY ONE OF PREJUDICE. 

Excepting those who have resided in the South, few people out- 
side have any true conception whatever, of what means a contest 
against the fixed ideas and establislied policies of the ruling element 
in this section. Not until recently have the searching currents of 
thought inundated, to a great and perceptible extent, the founda- 
tions of bitter prejudice that have been the main basis of the mon- 
ster political structure which has towered in its glory in the South 
since the days of reconstruction. For a long time, few there were 
who would dare to revolt against its darkened walls, lest they might 
forever be driven from the shadow of its wings. 

It is no idle charge that is embodied in the frequent statement 
that the "par" prejudiced Democratic politicians in Alabama will 
adopt any method, foul or fair, especially foul^ that may perpetu- 
ate the control of that party, in this state. And it has been the dire 
dread of becoming a victim of just such venomous partisans as these 
that has awed aspiring men of this state into party line and once 
made it seriously doubtful whether any able man would jeopardize 
his political prospects by being so bold as to stand out in opposition 
to the "Democracy (?) of Alabama," and its shadowy practices, 
which Southern young men have been taught by gray-haired parents 
to believe justifiable. 

When, for once, the prejudice of the leaders and tlie animosity 
of the rabble of the Democratic party is fully aroused ;ind incited 
against anv person who would ally himselt" with the opposition, 
then the subject of this ardent persecution may expect that never 
will he, nor his seed, go forgotten by an unrelenting foe, until such 
prejudice-bearing life is extinguished. 

The time has been when Alabama Democrats would not concede 
it a right for a Southern voter to be anything else than a " booster" 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 



19 



for the "machine bosses." The privilege to oppose the Demo- 
cratic party — considering the treatment accorded those who latel} 
antagonized that party in the Smith — is generally supposed by 
" Bourbons" not to exist, even now. 

During the heat of political campaigns, — and especially was it the 
case in Alabama last year, — every imaginable pressure is brought to 
bear upon those who do not see fit to support the Democratic ticket. 
Ostracism is practised in both social and business life. Merchants 
withhold supplies from farmers, wealthy landlords threaten the dis- 
charge of their tenants, and mortgage-holders talk wildly of fore- 
closures, to those who express a desire to exercise the right of 
franchise according to their own belief and as free men of a so- 
called free republic. In no other section of the country are such 
political forces as these exerted to so radical a degree, or is the 
"party lash" wielded with so tremendous a flourish. The "party 
lash" cracker must be devised so as to "drive them into line;" it 
makes no difference what the nature of the material may be, if its 
popping is fitting for the time and purpose. 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 



CHAPTER III. 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF "PARTY LASH " CRACKERS. 

The rank and file of Democrats in Alabama, until recently, have 

blindly drifted along, neglecting every interest. '^Vmk'nig of 

nothing else, scarcely, than "machine boss"' protection from the 

near approach of some highly-pictured prospective woe, ever since 

before the late w^ar, when slaveholders waved the party lash and 

popped the cracker of " secession or ruin, " — until now, when the 

sons of ex-slaveholders, and others that form the "domineering 

bossism" in Alabama, pop the cracker of "Democracy or negro 

rule." From the time when the "old plantation darkey," hat in 

hand, stood humbly before his master to hear that he was no longer 

a chattel slave, until now, the "bulldozing" ex-slaveholding lord 

has "blowed" about the danger of "negro rule" and the sons of 

this class of oftice-holding hierarchy have as l^lusteringly echoed the 

farce. They failed to remember that it was the wrinkled hands of 

the old colored slave that were stretched out in protection over his 

master's loved ones when the deadly flash and quaking thunder of 

battle threatened Southern homes, and they soon unkindly pictured 

them as demon clutches. There is no reasonable ground for fear 

of "negro supremacy." It is the domination of the man with the 

black heart, without special reference to " hide," that the yoemanry 

of Alabama must really fear. It is not the supremacy of the negro 

that curses, or may curse the white productive classes, but it is the 

supremacy of "machine bosses" who, through the fraudulent 

nianipuhition of the ballot-box in counties with a predominence of 

colored population, roll up fictitious and enormous majorities in 

order to defeat the will of the white people of other counties. This 

white-" hided, " black-hearted class, which has always popped the 

cracker of "negro supremacy" are now those who wrongfully 

dominate a majority of the white people of Alabama on account of 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 21 

stuffed ballot-boxes extravagantly based upon a negro population. 
The "antediluvian," ex-slaveholding Democrat has talked much 
about this or that party being a " negro party," but for a certainty 
this Pharisaical set can now see in their own " dear old Demo- 
cratic party " in Alabama a full-fledged " negro party." The Kolb- 
Jones election demonstrates this fact, Jones having received majori- 
ties in no other than "black belt" couniies. Be it said to the credit 
of the "black belt" negroes, however, they protest that they did not 
vote for Jones and are amazed that the country has palmed the 
Democratic part}' of Alabama, and the responsibility for its exist- 
ence, off on them. The national election in Alabama, a fac-simile 
of the state election, sustains the apparently dark complexion of 
that party. 

The "Force Bill" cracker is another very available "party lash" 
snap. Democratic campaign orators never fail to picture, in their 
denunciation of this hobgoblin, burly negroes guarding the polls 
with bayonets while timid white men come trembling forward to 
deposit their ballots. "Unless the Democratic ticket is elected, 
such a state of atlairs will most certainly exist, " shouts the office- 
holder, and there are, even now, voters in Alabama who are simple 
enough to believe it. No party advocates or indorses a measure of 
any such provisions, yet the people of the South are told that a vote 
against the Democratic party means the support of just such a state 
of affairs, and if possible, something worse. It is argued by Demo- 
crats, that under such a perilous probability, no farmer could justly 
consider his empty pocket, poverty-stricken home, overworked and 
shabbily-clothed family, and poorly-educated children, "and go off 
to discussing the money question. " 

Until of recent years, the rank and file of the people in Alabama 
usually "kicked up the dust" in their terrible display of hostility to 
anything antagonistic to the Democratic party. In the meantime, 
the "machine bosses" wielded the "party lash" and popped the 
snap crackers over their heads; ingeniously playing upon their 
passions and prejudices, and always holding the offices. 



2 3 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE TROUBLE OF THE SIXTIES. 



The people of Alabama were plunged into the bloody, surging 
sea of trouble in the sixties by the same extremist element in the 
South, which has more than once ruled more desperately than wisely, 
and is, in times of great emergency, scarcely conservative or sensible. 
The writer often imagines he can hear some of these same old bluster- 
ing members of the ex-slave- and present office-holding hierarchy 
exciting the common people back before the sixties with their now 
"moss-covered" harangues, and wonders if some of the common 
herd could again be herded by these same herdsmen and be driven 
into another conflict of "a poor man's fight and a rich man's war." 

If it had not been for the rash domination of this " rule or ruin " 
element in the South at that time, there is no doubt but that " the 
war between the States " could have been averted, with far greater 
advantage to the people of this section. 

The masses of the people of Alabama were not at heart secession- 
ists, but it is, as heretofore, unwritten truth that this state was se- 
ceded fraudulently by the original " machine bosses " who dictated 
the seating of the delegates in the " secession convention," and who 
ruthlessly sacrificed the lives and property of the poor in a vain en- 
deavor to add to the coffers of the rich landlord by further enslaving 
humanity. 

Reformers in Alabama are to-day fought hardest and persecuted 
most by the sons of the class of men who fought the poor white man 
during the late war and spoliated his meagre possessions, in order that 
the shackles might be kept on the ankles of the black man so the rich 
landlord could prolong his princely ways. Opposing the present 
movement for universal industrial freedom are represented those 
who have strangled Liberty at every stage of her growth, and who 
respect the needs of the poor white man now, as little as they did 
the wants of the poor slaves then. 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 2^ 

The common people always fight all the battles in times of war, 
create all the wealth in periods of peace ; but, whether in the battle 
of blood or the struggle for bread, they have never reaped a sub- 
stantial benefit from either contest. They have been engaged in 
a prolonged, though varying struggle, all down the history of the 
ages, and greed and avarice have always sapped their energies and 
sucked their life-blood. 

Such is truly a too real recital of the actual experience of the 
Alabama citizen ex-soldier, as he now is in the ranks of " the 
common masses of the common people," battling for bread with 
about as much hope of reaping a happy reward in this contest, as 
he had of winning a soul-swelling ^•ictorv in that of the sixties. 
How sad is the nan^ative of the real life of the average Alabamian, 
who has always been loyal to the political leaders of his native state, 
worshiping even at the shrine of the name " Democracy," but, after 
years of toil, privation and endurance, appi'oaches the verge of 
eternity unable to bequeath a heritage of neither full-fledged liberty 
nor free-titled land to uneducated, homeless and hopeless children. 



24 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 



CHAPTER V. 

WANT PRODUCES THINKERS. 

Some siDccies of the brute creation open their eyes in nine days, 
but some of the poor, blinded and burden-bearing creatures of hu- 
manity scarcely ever succeed in getting their eyes fully open to the 
light of God's blessed bestowals to mankind. Others soon realize 
the repulsiveness of the black shadows that enthrall them and bite 
the dust in anguish in their struggle to be free. And often, when 
higher reason fails to prompt one to action, unsatiated appetite con- 
stitutes a never-failing reminder. As necessity is the mother of in- 
vention, so is poverty productive of thought. The earlier one's 
condition is reduced to want, the sooner will the thought " materialize 
into action." Thus it is with the debt-ridden toiler, the f armless 
farmer and the produceless producer in their unrest in Alabama to- 
day. The general want has produced general thought. Thought 
has instituted inquiry. Investigation has inaugurated a revolt. The 
opposition to the Democratic party was, in this manner, born out of 
want. Term it the "third party," or whatever you may choose, it 
is really a necessary party ; and its growth will continue as long as 
the wants and demands of the neglected productive interests go 
unheeded. 

The ingenious old party leaders may appeal to the passions of 
some ; the " Force Bill," like Banquo's ghost, may continue to " bob 
up;" the farcial cry of "negro supremacy" may again fill the air; 
but the wide-awake spirit is becoming prevalent, and these politicians, 
instead of being absorbed with the tav-i^, will soon be astounded at 
the tear-ojf' from the Democratic party. 

The feeling of the usurer's grasp is more likely, hereafter, to con- 
vince the possessor of the ballot of his duty, than will the artful 
arraying of one section by corporation talent. The presence of the 
legislative curse that makes the over-producing producer produceless, 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 25 

will, in days soon to come, more largely influence a vast majority 
of the citizens of this state in the exercise of their inalienable will, 
than will the Democratic hobgoblin of the farcial prospective (?) 
"Force Bill." The appeal for education that comes from the inno- 
cent eyes of little children, as they caress a weary mother's care- 
worn face, shall soon carry more force of persuasion with the voter 
than will the bluster of office-seekers in their feigned warnings of 
"negro rule;" and the father will then seek to hand down to his 
children the magic wand that is dispelling brutishness from the face 
of all the earth. 

Thought having once inundated the passion-played Southern pub- 
lic mind, an awakening is begun, and, aroused to an appreciation 
of affairs as they exist, the rank and file of the people of Alabama 
are in an astounding state of agitation. Some idea of the extent of 
this unrest can be derived by recalling to mind the results of the last 
elections. This change in public sentiment, and attainments of the 
reform crusaders against the organized Democracy, will best be ap- 
preciated by an understanding of the campaign intolerance and 
election methods which have made the " Bourbon " historic, and 
which is fast making all those who believe in keeping sacred our free 
institutions, shrink from the support of men of such a party and a 
party of such methods and men. 



26 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

CHAPTER VI. 

"bourbon" campaign intolerance. 

The revolt of the common people of Alabama against the 
*' machine bosses" is, simply speaking, a revolution against revo- 
lutionists ; and the increasing strength of the former is rapidly 
developing the intolerant spirit of the latter. This savage-natured 
sentiment that has characterized the campaign policy of the Demo- 
cratic party of the South in its treatment of the opposition, has 
often received the scathing criticism of many a caustic pen. Yet 
nothing too severe could be said in its condemnation. 

It is the most idle and hollow mockery for any writer or any 
newspaper to attempt to repudiate the rightful accusation, so long 
made, that the Democratic party in the South is responsible for the 
campaign intolerance that is practiced in this section. These out- 
bursts of violence in the South and in Alabama are but the spas- 
modic ventings of an overwrought public sentiment that has been 
instilled and tutored by the press and leaders of that party ever 
since the war. In reality, not half has been told of the attempts at 
stifling free speech in Alabama. 

Although the entire record of the "Bourbon" element is indeed 
unenviable and astonishing, yet, never before in the histoiy of 
Southern Democratic campaign ruffianism had this spirit reached 
the height of deviltry displayed during 1893, in Alabama. With 
organized rabbles at their back, and partisan courts at their faces, 
political bullies openly boasted of their lawlessness and engaged in 
their dastardly outrages defiant to morality, honesty, conscience or 
prosecution. 

During the last weeks of the Kolb-Jones campaign this barbaric 
nature was beginning to be fully drawn out ; the most cowardly 
demonstration of its existence having first been made at Florence, 
Ala., where the writer was attacked at midnight, July 37, by a 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 27 

mob that had assembled at the depot to do him violence upon his 
departui-e from the town. The mob, as was stated by dispatches 
published in the Democratic press, consisted of "fifty enraged 
citizens." The riotous crowd was incited and collected by parti- 
sans, for no other than a political cause ; and had it not been that 
the writer succeeded in reaching the platform of the car unob- 
served, no doubt but that he would have been egged, stoned, or shot 
to death. The lights had been extinguished in the depot, which is 
located in a desolate part of the town, and every other arrangement 
was seemingly made for the doing of a dark and bloody deed. 
These villainous plans proved, however, to be advantageous to the 
writer, who escaped a brutally-designed assassination by getting on 
the platform of the car before the shower of missiles had com- 
menced. The writer's hat suffered ruin from the " indignation," and 
a Memphis & Charleston car was turned into the shops spattered and 
battered. Herewith is given a letter, referring to the Florence inci- 
dent, and as its author is one of Alabama's most eminent ministers, 
this document will prove valuable literature : 

" Study of L. F. Whitten, 

Pastor M. E. Church, South. 

Jasper, Ala., Aug. i, 1892. 
" My dear Brother Manning : 

" As soon as I have the time, I hasten to tender to you my sincere sym- 
pathies for the barbarous and uncivilized treatment you received at Florence 
a few days since. The correspondent of the Age-Herald, who lives at 
Florence, saw ' an amusing sight last night to see the boasted disciple of 
Kolbism, J. C. Manning, run from a volley of rotten eggs thrown by fifty 
enraged men.' He could have seen in this ' amusing sight,' the return of the 
Spanish Inquisition and diaboHc intolerance of barbarism, had he been able to 
look ahead. This was outrageous and inhuman treatment for which I assure 
you I am full of regrets. I am ashamed that it has happened in Alabama 
or the South. This spirit shown you, and the abuse heaped upon you, if not 
denounced and punished speedily, will culminate in the hottest persecution 
of an honest minority; which will prohibit free speech and destroy the right 
to oppose the majority, although that majority be led by the devil himself. 



28 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

If that spirit is not rebuked in our state and the righteous indignation of our 
people does not stamp it out swiftly, then the darkest days of the Rebellion 
will be bright as compared to those to follow. This spirit will invade the 
pulpit and go into the sanctum of the editor, and sermons will have to be 
pleasant, pacific and agreeable, and editors must agree with those in author- 
ity, or else the minister will be driven out of town, and the editor will be 
rotten-egged or swung up by the thumbs ! If that comes to pass, then give 
me a monarchical government. I should greatly prefer to appeal to Ceesar, 
than to an enraged mob of 'fifty or more citizens' (?) fired up with red liquor, 
and thirsting for the blood of the man who differs from them, — a set of brain- 
less, heartless sapheads. I heard a gentleman who saw it, denounce it as the 
most villainous thing he ever saw in a land of freedom. He does not belong 
to your party, — neither do I, — but he was for you. You keep on, if you 
die at your post. Mobs to-day, mausoleums to-morrow. The party that 
resorts to such tactics may ride the top of the wave to-day, but the good 
time is coming when that rotten and rum-soaked method will be buried out 
of sight under an avalanche of ballots of brave men, who scorn the rotten- 
egg method of answering brainy arguments, which ' Bourbons ' have not 
sense enough to meet in any other way. For my part, I do not believe in 
intolerance. The day has passed to allow it. God holds the reins of gov- 
ernment. Life, liberty and free speech are our own inalienable rights. To 
destroy these, as the mobs would do, is to muzzle the press, kill the stump- 
speaker, and hang the preacher who does not court popular applause, and 
who defies public sentiment that is wrong. 

Cordially yours for the Right, 

L. F. Whitten." 

" P. S. I said I do not belong to your party. I am a political Prohibi- 
tionist, and pray for the day to dawn when the sober and sensible and honest 
manhood of our country may get together and rule it. 

L. F. W." 

Other instances of this frenzied partisan madness soon abounded. 
But the most wicked resort of Democratic party passion, be it 
said to its eternal shame, was made upon Col. J. M. White- 
head, editor of The Living Truths Georgiana, Ala. Not 
content with destroying peace, planning and attempting midnight 
assassinations, hooting and howling at public meetings, these 
haters of civil liberty and " dying hard " Democrats come forth in 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 29 

their extreme infernalism, and hurl eggs at a gray-haired, one- 
legged, ex-Confederate soldier and citizen of irreproachable man- 
hood. In response to a request for a statement on this subject, 
the writer received the following reply from Colonel Whitehead : 

"Greenville, Ala., April 3, 1893. 
"J. C. Manning: 

" Dear Sir, — You ask me to write to you some of my experiences during 
the campaign last year with our friends, the organized Democracy. 
Knowing their methods so well, their ' wild and woolly ' ways did not sur- 
prise me. I had some experiences with them in 1884, when I was an 
independent candidate for Congress in this district, against Herbert. At 
Ross Hill, Covington county, I was set upon by their tools, who had been 
organized before to kill me. It was a miracle that the plan failed. As it 
was, I had an arm broken, a shoulder dislocated and was left for dead on 
the ground. I had just closed a speech in which I had exposed the unfaith- 
fulness of their Congressman (the nominee), which I had been doing for the 
past two weeks and he had heard of it. He is now the Secretary of the 
Navy ! I had challenged him to a joint discussion and he had declined. He 
was a Confederate soldier and so was I. I had lost a leg and he had lost 
the use of an arm, but nothing of this kind could stand in the way of his 
ambition. I never had any doubt but that he and his henchmen instigated 
this cowardly assault upon me. Last year, most of my speeches were made 
in the ' white counties ' where our friends are largely in the majority. I 
went to Union Springs, in Bullock county, — a ' black county ' — to engage 
the Hon. W. C. Oates in a joint debate. He declined and I made no 
attempt to speak. As I was leaving on the train from the depot that night, 
I was honored with a shower of eggs coming through the car window at 
which I was sitting. They passed within a few inches of my nose and 
breaking on the other side of the car, fell on the good clothes of an enthusi- 
astic Democrat. Of course he was mad, while I was in the best possible 
humor. I did the laughing and he did the swearing. It took place as the 
train moved off, so that there was no chance to investigate who the parties 
were. They were under the cover of darkness, and doubtless will there 

remain." 

Most respectfully, 

J. M. Whitehead." 

"They are under the cover of darkness, and doubtless will there 
remain." What manner of Democracy ( .^) is this, which forms a 



30 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

prominent part of the nation's administration — even entering the 
make-up of the cabinet of the President ! It is no surprise that an 
opposition cause to such a party as this Democracy (?) would dare 
to undergo the most trying difficulties in its struggle to maintain 
freedom of speech and to sustain human liberty ; it is no wonder 
that the Southern champions of reform dare to preserve law, pro- 
tect home and have honest g-overnment. 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 3 1 



CHAPTER VII. 

ELECTION METHODS OF THE DEMOCRATS. 

" Bourbon " campaign intolerance, ballot-box stuffing and other 
similar crimes against human libert}- have become a common prac- 
tice in the political contests in Alabama. It is said frequently by 
the opposition in this state that one's skill in fraudulent election 
manipulation wins promotion in the councils of the Democratic 
party. -It is also not untrue that voters who have been accomplices 
in perpetrating election frauds have been rewarded with official 
positions "on account of efficient services rendered the j^arty." 

The election law in Alabama was framed for facilitating fraud 
as an alleged necessity for protection from negro supremacy. 
But, once having secured the " machine," the " bosses" have taken 
advantage of this " original purpose," and have carried the practice 
of stealing ballots so far as to feloniously take white men's votes in 
order to preserve the "machine" intact. This practice has been 
carried out to such an outrageous extent that an overwhelming 
majority of "white" ballots have frequently been reversed by the 
" machine bosses" in order to continue the evolution of the office- 
holding hierarchy. The original ballot-box stuffing law has been 
recently displaced by another equally as iniquitous. This new law 
was enacted at the last session of the Legislature and is known as 
the " Sayre Election Bill." As fair and able criticism that has 
been made of this bill appeared in the Alliance Herald^ Mont- 
gomery, Ala., edited by Frank Baltzell, one of the ablest and most 
forcible writers in the South. The Alliance Herald says of this 
measure : 

" The law should be captioned, ' A Bill to be entitled an Act to Perpet- 
uate the Frauds which have heretofore been practiced in Alabama.' It is 
very ingenious in its draft, very adroit in its omissions and very mischievous 
in its operations. The principal idea in the bill is that it absolutely puts the 



32 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

control of elections in this state into the control of the inspectors of 
elections, by making everything about voting so hedged about by secrecy 
that it is impossible to ever get the evidence of any fraud that may be 
committed, and by making them the absolute directors and controllers of 
those who may not be able to read and write. The principal omission of the 
bill is that it does not provide for the appointment of inspectors from each 
party or faction, or rather fails to make provision for the enforcement of the 
existing section in the code which provides for it, effective and certain to be 
enforced. All the frauds in the elections are due to that defect. The 
probate judge, clerk and sheriff do not pretend to enforce the law fairly. 
Appeal to the courts to secure enforcement is a farce, as appeal from the 
decision of the court delays the application of the remedy, if the supreme 
court should oi-der it, until after the election shall be past. Each party or 
faction should be guaranteed, under a heavy penalty upon these officers, 
fair and just representation in the management, by having at least one 
inspector and one clerk — those, too, whose names shall be suggested ; for to 
appoint one ignorant, careless or indifferent inspector, to watch two 
inspectors and two clerks, is folly. The average ballot-box stuffer can 
count out every time, when that is done. One man is needed to watch the 
one who reads the ballot, and another to watch the clerks. Without these 
two, the ' slick ' artist can count out every time. This omission in the bill 
makes it safer than the present law, for a voter can now keep a list, 
and those of his party can give their names and voluntarily tell him for 
whom they voted, and thereby afford evidence available in a contest. This 
bill purposely does away with this right by putting all the power in the 
hands of the inspectors and keeping everybody fifty feet away from any 
evidence whatever. The law is almost wholly devoted to how voting shall 
be done. Nobody is concerned about that. Everybody wants to know 
how the counting will be done, or how the stuffing will be prevented. That 
power is kept securely in the hands of the inspectors, and the inspectors' 
appointment is equally as firmly kept in the hands of the judge of probate, 
clerk and sheriff. That may seem a very adroit way of perpetuating fraud, 
but it is neither smart, shrewd nor fair. 

The law provides for booths or stalls — one for each fifty voters as shown 
by the preceding election. One voter at a time gets a ticket from an 
inspector, goes into the booth and is allowed five minutes to prepare his 
ticket. If he cannot read or use his hands to make a cross mark opposite 
each name of the candidate for whom he desires to vote, the inspector 
appoints one of the partisans of his party — not the voter's — to fix the ticket. 
He will fix it, too. Nobody can see or hear what transpires between the 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA, 33 

voter and this appointed manipulator. No penalty is provided for deceiving 
or wrongly marking the ticket. All the frauds about that feature are pro- 
tected. When it is marked, the voter casts it. Why not number it, so that 
it can be identified in case of contest or dispute ? That would prevent fraud, 
and is not wanted. No one is allowed within fifty feet of the voting place 
nor the booths. There is great particularity about the way the ticket shall 
be prepared, and none shall be voted unless they shall have the initials of 
the inspector who hands them out, on the ticket. Any other ticket, if voted, 
shall not be counted. There is anotlier chance for fraud. Suppose the 
inspector refuses to mark his initials on the tickets, there is no penalty and 
each one can refuse and defeat the election. 

The law requires the registration o£ voters to be completed the first 
twelve days in June, before the August and November elections. Before reg- 
istering for each election, the voter must present his poll-tax receipt. When 
he registers he gets a registration certificate. When he votes he must pre- 
sent this registration certificate and leave it with the inspector. The way is 
not plain how it will get back to him, when he delivers it in August and 
desires to vote in November, but it is supposed that he will have a sHm or 
good chance at that, as he shall be in accord or opposition to the officer who 
ought to return it. If the registrar fails to act after he shall be appointed, 
there is no way for the voters of the beat to register that year ; the probate 
judge and registrar can manage that little trick so as to disfranchise all the 
opposition beats with heavy majorities. The probate judge can appoint 
another, but there is no penalty for not serving nor for the appointment of 
an incompetent registrar. That feature is well fixed. The bill provides pen- 
alties for everything to protect secrecy, but nothing to protect the honesty 
of the count. It seems to proceed on the assumption that the principal 
thing about an election is secrecy, and that the honest expression of the 
will of the voters is not to be protected. The inspectors will fix that for the 
party to which they belong and the probate judge will see that no other 
party or faction has any chance or prospect. As a remedy for the troubles 
now complained of in the state, the bill is wholly at variance from every- 
thing needed. It simply puts in the power of the probate judge, clerk and 
sheriff of a county the power to control every election." 

The foregoing review of the " Sayre Election Law," is no more 
than a just exposure of a legislative document devised and enacted 
for the subversion of the will of the people. In other language, this 
law is nothing more nor nothing less than a legalized plot to commit 
treason against a republican form of government. 



LofC. 



34 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

With the registration of voters and the management of elections 
in their own hands, the " machine bosses " of the " black belt " never 
fail to return any majority "that is needed." As an instance of this 
corruption, let us refer to the vote of last August, and of last Novem- 
ber, in some of the polling places in the " black belt " counties. 
In the city of Montgomery, when in fact less than i,ooo votes were 
cast in August, 3,561 votes were returned. Some weeks after the 
state election, one of the managers of election in Beat 5 in Mont- 
gomery county, stated to Captain Kolb that there were about 200 
votes actually cast in this beat in the August election and that the 
Kolb ticket received over one hundred and fifty of them, and Jones 
the balance, but the returns gave Jones over four hundred majority ! 
This statement was made to Captain Kolb unsolicited, and by a man 
who said he had voted for Jones, but was suffering from a punctured 
conscience on account of the wrong he had done the people of Ala- 
bama and himself, by assisting in ballot-box stuffing. Hundreds 
of similar cases that occurred in the August election may be given, 
where the ballot-boxes were not only stuffed, but the count reversed. 

Dvunng the session of the Legislature, at the time of the election 
of district court solicitors for the present term, a gentleman who 
happened to be in Montgomery at the time, found the following 
letter on the floor in the office of the Merchants' Hotel : 

" Hatch., Nov. 8, 1892. 
" Mr. J. V. Smith, Seale, Ala. : 

"We are going to be 'snowed under' here to-day. Our only hope is to be 
able to throw out the box. Write me by this p. m. mail the most complete 
plan to do it. Would too many ballots in the box do it ? or which is best ?" 

Yours, L. 3 — 3. — " 

The envelope which contained this interesting letter, was ad- 
dresed "J. V. Smith, Esq., Seale, Ala.," antl bears the postmark — 
" Hatchechubbee, Ala., Nov. 8, 1892." This letter revealed 
"election methods." Upon investigation, it was learned that 
Hatchechubbee is a small box of not over 300 votes and that it took 
two day to do the counting, and then, in spite of being " snowed 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 35 

under, " the Democratic ticket claimed 79 majority ! It is only 
ten miles from Scale to Hatchechubbee. At Oswichee, a beat in 
the same county of Russell, — in which is Hatchechubbee, — there 
were 74 more votes in the box than were voters' names on the poll 
list. Just such "double-dealing" as this, no doubt, won Cleve- 
land's majority in this county. It is useless to add that "J. V. 
Smith " is an office-holder. He was elected solicitor for the present 
term in the Third Congressional District. As to " L. 3 — 3, — " it 
will be noticed that the letter C is third in the alphabet, which 
makes "L. 3. — 3. — "when the letter C is used in place of 
"3.-3." read " L. C. C. " This " L. C. C, Hatchechubbee, 
Ala.," is quite partisan in his feelings and is very much disturbed 
in his sleep with nightmares of " negro supremacy! " 

" Doctoring" registration lists is an effective way of preventing 
boxes from being thrown out on account of not having enough 
names on the poll list. In some of the "black belt" counties 
these lists are very sacred, as they contain the names of many dead 
negroes and good coon-dogs. An ex-sheriff of Marion county stated 
to the writer that, in the discharge of the duties of that otfice sev- 
eral years ago, it became necessary for him to save his own life by 
killing a negro criminal, who had attacked him. The ex-sheriff 
said that the occurrence often came to his mind, which was full of 
i-egrets because of the affair. "However," said he, "I am now 
feeling easy over the affair, as upon examining the registration 
lists at the court-house a few days ago, I found the name of this 
same negro registered, and learned that he was voted for Jones. " 

Many are the ways by which the Democratic party has overcome 
any opposition in Alabama. " Doctoring" registration lists, stuff- 
ing ballot-boxes, reversing the count, throwing out election returns, 
etc., has been quite a pastime for the "machine bosses." And 
soon they will begin to realize " the cost of their game." 

Suppose the opposition party, which now has control of thirty- 
nine counties out of the sixty-six in the state, should resort to the 



36 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

shameful election tactics of the Democratic party ! Who could 
picture the termination of such a result ? Referring to such a revo- 
lutionary improbability, the Alliance Herald says : 

" When the thirty-nine ' white ' counties shall commence to count, if they 
should regard that as the last resort, the figures in a state election would be 
as startling as amusing. Think of Dallas roUing up 10,000 majority one 
way, and Etowah rolling up 12,000 for the opposing ticket. Then let Mont- 
gomery roll up her 7,000 and see how they would compare with Coosa's 7,000 
or Cleburne's 5,000. Then let Wilcox come serenely forward with her usual 
6,000 and DeKalb call her hand with 7,000. Lowndes, too, could bob up 
serenely with her 6,000 and Dale could *see her' with as blossoming a rose 
of innocence in a game she does not understand and show up 6,000. The 
' white ' counties have been holding aloof, until the tricksters worked them in 
November, but they have found out a thing or two, and if counting must be 
done they will startle the natives witli the unblushing character of what 
could he done. The 'black belt' had best not force this competition. 
When Dallas kills 5000 'white' votes in a 'white' county, by fraudulently count- 
ing that number of negro votes in order to succeed, should the whites play 
for even, it will not be difficult to divine what will be the result. The 
Herald does not advocate this sort of tactics nor does anyone in the ' white ' 
counties, but there is a great deal of silent thinking about it. No one wants 
to do it; but if self-preservation shall demand it to thwart the aggressions 
of the ' black belt,' just watch and see how the innocent and guileless man 
can 'swear to conduct this election for the best interests of the white people' 
and down the ' black belt.' " 

But the writer thinks " self-preservation" w^ill not demand such 
a course. This is not a time for such practices. The common 
people know it. They are determined to press forward their revolt 
against the party that gave birth to such revolutionary ideas. The 
common people of Alabama will not submit longer to such out- 
rages. They are demanding, and, in the name of God and human- 
ity, will have a free and fair expression of their political will on 
the rostrum and at the polls. 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 37 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SUCCESS OF THE POPULISTS ASSURED. 

The people of Alabama will no longer vote the Democratic ticket 
simply because the " antediluvian " leaders say so. They will no 
longer be intimidated by party threats, or blindly driven by party 
lash, but they are going to have a good reason for so doing, here- 
after, before casting their votes for the party which has been in 
power in Alabama for eighteen years, during the whole of which 
time the people have grown poorer and poorer and no measures 
have been adopted or suggested for their relief. The great masses 
of the people cannot again be forced to neglect more pressing in- 
terests to take issue on tariff reform only. While these people favor 
tariff reform they demand other more vital things as well, and they 
have formulated these demands into a party platform ; and the brave 
and patriotic people who have the courage to maintain their con- 
victions, will no longer be frightened from the issues they indorse, 
by threats of disrupting an existing political party, — especially when 
there no longer remains any necessity for keeping that party- together. 
For what purpose are political parties organized and why do they 
continue their existence ? The reading and thinking masses under- 
stand that there is but one answer : Political parties are formed to 
educate the people upon a proposed policy and to be instrumental in 
having such policy enacted into law as soon as the majority of voters 
favor and cast their votes for it. When the policy which brings a 
party into existence has become accepted as a proper theory of gov- 
ernment and ceases to have any opposition, then the necessity of the 
political party itself ceases, for it has nothing else to accomplish. 
It is proper and usual, however, for such a party to continue its 
existence until some other living issues arise which demand the con- 
sideration of the voter. When this is done, one of the the political 
parties which has accomplished its mission, should, by appropriate 



38 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 

platform, present the issues of the voters of the country ; or some 
new party having that object in view, should be formed. 

The Republican party was formed for the purpose of eradicating 
chattel slavery in America, opposed secession, and incidentally 
favored a high protective tariff" to enable the United States Govern- 
ment to carry on the Civil War. The Democratic party in the 
South favored slavery and secession, and thus the issues were 
made. The Republican party established the objects of its organ- 
ization and it is conceded that it was right, both in its opposition to 
slavery and secession, and hence the issues then dividing the old 
parties are now dead issues, leaving the only issue the incidental 
one of protection. The fundamental principles promulgated by 
Jefterson upon which the Democratic party was organized, have 
been instilled into the hearts of practically all Americans and no 
organized political party is necessary to maintain them. The issues 
formerly dividing the Democratic and Republican parties (except- 
ing the tarifl') are no longer in politics ; and the political "bosses" 
of neither party can show why those who once opposed slaver}' and 
secession should remam as a separate political organization, and 
those who once favored it should remain as one also, while there 
are living issues concerning the welfare of the masses of the com- 
mon people, about which no concern is manifested by either of the 
old parties. 

Had the Democratic party adopted the living issues and burning 
demands of the common people in its platform, and honestly advo- 
cated their speedy enactment into law, then it would be the party 
of the people. The rank and file of that party in the South and 
West does not express any marked disapproval of the principal de- 
mands for reform that are embodied in the platform of the Peo- 
ple's party, yet, nine-tenths of the voters of the Democratic party 
are controlled adversely to their political belief by one-tenth — the 
Wall Street or Eastern portion. And, as S. S. King, Esq., a 
noted reform author, has said, " Whistling against the wind in the 



POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 39 

efiort to drown the fury of the tempest, has always been as effect- 
ual as the effort of Western and Southern Democracy to reform in 
the face of Wall Street dictation. " Unfortunately for the Demo- 
cratic party, it has been controlled by this un-Democratic Eastern 
end of itself until the importunings of the common people of the 
West and South have been ignored. The thunder of the " Tam- 
many tiger " having drowned the appeals of the Western and 
Southern producers, they have been forced to present their de- 
mands by independent political action, and the People's party was 
necessarily the result; and if these people have the courage and 
manhood to stand firm to their convictions, and to resist the "party 
lash" which the "machine bosses" will of course continue to 
vigorously apply, there can be no question as to its success in 
Alabama. 

First and foremost, however, before the strength of any new 
issues can even be tested in this state, the " machine bosses " who 
have reigned supreme in Alabama for the last nineteen years 
must be dethroned. In the name of Democracy they have per- 
verted every principle which the word represents, and by "bull-' 
dozing" and fraud, have constantly thwarted the will of the people 
at the ballot-box. They have inaugurated methods as corrupt and 
revolutionary as their despotic minds could conceive, that their 
dominancy of the common people, might be perpetuated with ease ; 
they have shaken the very foundation of the sacred covenant of 
liberty, broken the peace, blighted the prosperity and threatened 
the homes of the people; they have also hastened the time when 
all good, liberty-loving and truly democratic citizens of this state 
must unite in re-establishing the fact that they are the equals of 
the " machine bosses," and that a majority should rule. When 
this is established in fact as well as in theory, then, and not until 
then, will the demands of the people, which are favored by a 
majority of the people, be enacted into law. Whether favoiing 
or opposing the demands of the common people, all honest citizens 



H 



40 POLITICS OF ALABAMA. 



^ 



should unite in an effort to secui'e to those favoring them, the right 
to have the issues that come before the people fairly tested by a 
free ballot and a fair count of the votes polled. Anything else is 
slavery, vv^hich will not be submitted to by the common people of 
Alabama. In the language of the greatest Alabamian of to-day, 
Capt. R. F. Kolb, the grandest Commoner of them all, whose 
every impulse is actuated by a desire to do service to his down- 
trodden fellow men : 

" The common people of Alabama believe that democracy means 
that the people shall rule. They now feel that a few political 
' bosses ' are undertaking to overthrow a republican form of 
government in this state. I warn the 'machine bosses' to stop 
and reflect. Don't trifle with these people longer. Let justice be 
done and sweet Peace will again spread her white wings over our 
beloved state." 



THE END. 



'^'^^^"'"Va^-^ 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




003 385 650 7 



